Top News

The issue of extradition of fugitive diamond trader Nirav Modi has once again heated up in the diplomatic corridors between Britain and India. Former British Home Minister and Shadow Foreign Minister of the Conservative Party, Priti Patel has expressed deep surprise and concern over Nirav Modi’s continued presence in Britain. In The Daily Telegraph’s much-talked-about podcast ‘The Diamond King’, to be aired in the coming days, Priti Patel has admitted that Indian authorities are feeling huge resentment from Britain due to the failure of the British legal system to hand over Nirav Modi, accused in one of India’s biggest banking scams, to India.

Questions raised on Britain’s legal system and pain of former minister

Priti Patel, who signed Nirav Modi’s extradition order to India in April 2021 during her tenure, said in clear words that if the British system had acted judiciously instead of getting entangled in unnecessary procedures and legal pretexts, Nirav Modi would not have got asylum in this country. Terming it as a blatant abuse of the British justice system, he said that this situation is also an insult to the taxpayers of the country. According to Patel, unless high-profile fugitives like Nirav Modi are sent back to India, there will be obstacles in gaining the desired momentum in mutual trust and diplomatic cooperation between the two countries.

Diplomacy stuck between refugee issues and extradition

During the podcast, Priti Patel also revealed that this high-profile case of Nirav Modi had become a complex diplomatic challenge for her during her tenure as Home Minister between 2019 to 2022. Britain was under pressure due to the Indian government’s tough stance on taking back asylum seekers who overstayed their visas and failed to return. Since Britain could not immediately implement the extradition of Nirav Modi, India had a strong position to bargain and exert pressure on the issues of return of immigrants, due to which the British administration had to face a lot of problems.

Withdrawal may happen soon due to exhaustion of legal options

55-year-old Nirav Modi, wanted in the high-profile fraud and money laundering case of nearly US $2 billion involving Punjab National Bank (PNB), is currently lodged in the high-security Pentonville jail in North London. He has been fighting continuous legal battles since his arrest from a luxurious flat by Scotland Yard in March 2019. However, he has exhausted all legal avenues available in the UK as well as losing his final appeal at the France-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). After the High Court of England rejected his confidential political asylum application and review petitions to stay his extradition in March this year, it is now hoped that his extradition to India may be completed soon.